Tilting parcel and cash carrier apparatus



(No Model.)

A. N. WOODARD. TILTING PARCEL AND CASH CARRIER APPARATUS.

No. 524,627. Patented Aug. 14, 1894.

meg.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

ALVIN N. WOODARD, OF MANSFIELD, OHIO.

TILTING PARCEL AND CASH CARRIER APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 524,627, dated August14, 1894.

Application filed May 5. 1894- Serial No. 510,179. (No model.)

T at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALVIN N. WOODARD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Mansfield, in the county of Richland and State of Ohio, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Tilting Parcel and CashCarrier Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

The object of this invention is to simplify the constructionand'operation of the single wire, gravity or inclined plane parcel andcash carrier apparatuses, used principally in stores for conveying sucharticles from a sales-counter to'a wrapping stand or cashier and backagain. In attainment of this object, I use a single hand-operated motorwheel, of large diameter, arranged beneath the sales-counter andconnected with a tilting, single conveying wire, by means of a verticalcord or band which iswound one or more times completely about the saidwheel so as to adhere thereto suiticiently to enable the operator tohold the conveying wire at any inclination or height, and therebyperfectly control the direction of movement of the carrier at any pointalong the length of the conveying wire.

Theinvention comprises also a tightener for the wire and its operatingcord, and also a spring buffer.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating my invention, in the severalfigures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is anelevation showing my apparatus installed. Fig. 2 is an end elevation.Fig. 3 is a plan view; Fig. 4, a side elevation, and Fig. 5, a rearelevation of the combined guidepiece and tightener.

a may represent a sales-counter of a store, and b, a wrapping stand orcashiers apartment or oifice.

c is a vertical post, of metal tubing or other material, and d, a parcelor cash carrier, of ordinary construction.

e is a wheel of large diameter and havinga grooved periphery, as shownin Fig. 2. This wheel is mounted to turn upon a stud-bolt or otherjournal f, which is supported in a stand g, erected beneath the countera, and made as a casting, or of other material adequate to sustain thewheel. The stud-bolt f may be tapped in the stand and be secured thereinadditionally or alone by a check or jam-nut f. The wheel is providedwith laterally extended knobs or projections e, by which to rotate itupon its journal. The wheel may be built up like a buggy wheel orotherwise produced, but, in any event, its periphery must be grooved,like a grooved pulley. A grooved guide pulley h is arranged on thecounter tangentially with relation to the wheel e, and a similar groovedpulley i is suspended from the ceiling.

A guide-piecej has rigidly connected to its upper end one end of a cordor band k, which extends thence over pulley i, thence under pulley h,thence once or oftener around the wheel 6, and its other end is threadedthrough a hole Z in a winding arbor or shaft Z, which has bearings in aloop 7" of the guide-piece. This winding device Z is provided with acrank or hand-wheel Z by which it may be rotated to wind the cord orband is about itself and thus take up slack in the said cord or band andkeep it sufficiently taut to insure its adhesion to the wheel e in suchmanner and to such extent that the rotation of the wheel will efiect alongitudinal movement of the cord or band, and the holding or retentionof such cord or band in any given po sition, without the necessity foremploying gearing, detents or other stopping or retaining devices. Thewinding device Z, Z is provided with any suitable detent or stoppingmedium, such as a pin Z adapted to be set in holes or sockets Z in theloop 9'' of the guide-piece.

m is a grooved guide-roller mounted to turn freely on the axle m, whichis supported in the guidepiecej, and adapted to run up and down the post0. The guide-piece is provided with a loop 71. which, with the loops jand j may be jointed together by the axle m. This loop 72 straddles thepost a, and is provided with a winding arbor or shaft 02., having atransverse hole 42 to receive the end of the wire or tramway 0, which iswound about said shaft 91 to keep it taut and straight. The shaft 41' isprovided with a hand crank or wheel m by which it may be rotated to windup the wire 0, and said operating device n is provided with a detent,such as a pin n, set in holes or sockets n in the loop at to se cure anydesired adj ustmeut. The other end of the wire or tramway is secured toa spring by the detent.

19 which is fixed to an immovable object, such as a wall, and saidspring acts as a compensating device to keep the wire taut as it ismoved up and down, and said spring is inclosed .in a rubber or otheryielding tube g, which serves as a buffer for the approaching carrier.

1" is a carrier detainer of any suitable construction, such as a hook,which is automatically lifted by the carrier trolley to receive beinstantly reversed or stopped by the sender by simply reversing themovement of the wheel, and hence the sender has the carrier wholly underhis control until it is caught The wheel e thus serves as a motor andalso as a friction controller for the wire or tramway.

It is to be noted that the wheel 9 is con nected directly with theapparatus by which the wire or tramway is raised and lowered, and theparcel or cash carrier operated, and thus the mechanism of a parcel andcash carrier is simplified to a very great extent; and the apparatus maybe produced and installed at such small cost as to render it availablefor small establishments as well as large.

What I claim is- 1. A carrier apparatus of the character described,comprising the hand-wheel 6 provided with the grooved periphery, thestand 9 on which said hand-wheel is mounted to revolve, designed to bearranged beneath the sales-counter, the band or cork is passed aboutsaid hand-wheel one or more times and supported above the same,aguide-piece with which one of the ends of the cord is fixedlyconnected, and the other end adj ustably connected, and the wire ortramway also adj ustably connected with said guide-piece at anotherpoint and movable therewith and fixed at its other end, the saidhand-wheel being of such large diameter as to require but slightmovement, ordinarily only about a sixth of a revolution, to effect thecomplete movement of the band or cord necessary to raise or lower thetram way, the adhesion of the band or cord to the said wheel beingsufficient to admit of the stopping and holding of the tramway at anydesired elevation, substantially as described.

2. .In a carrier of the character described, comprising a hand-wheelmotor, a tramway or wire and a motor cord or band fixedly con nected tothe said guide-piece at one end and adjustably connected to it at theother end,

and the tramway or wire being adjustably connected with the saidguide-piece at another point, substantially asdescribed.

3. A guidepiece for a movable wire or tramway, of a gravity or inclinedplane carrier apparatus comprising a guide wheel, loops projectingtherefrom, winding arbors applied in two of said loops and adapted toreceive, respectively, one end of the wire or tramway and one end of themotor cord or band, substantially as described.

4. A carrier apparatus of the character described, comprising a tramwayor wire, means to change the angle ofinclination of the said wire ortramway at one end and the fixed support for the other end of said wireor tramway comprising a tension spring and a surrounding rubber buft'er,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 1st day of May, A.D. 1894.

ALVIN N. WOODARD.

WVitnesses:

A. J. TWITCHELL, JOHN MARSHALL.

